Manitou Creative Local Non-Profit Donation Program

In February of 2025, the dream of owning a commercial property in Manitou Springs came to fruition for Jared Thompson and his family. Manitou Creative (Thompson’s art business) will be moving to 2 Navajo Ave with a large private art studio right on Manitou Avenue and a front yard begging to become an art pop-up shop. With roots expanded into the community nurtured by Thompson’s charitable works, Manitou Creative will continue to give back as it grows and blossoms with this new in-person retail opportunity at the corner of Navajo and Manitou Avenue, right in the heart of Manitou Springs.

Beginning in May of 2025, Manitou Creative will be donating 5% of all sales revenue (online and in-store) to five selected non-profit organizations:

“With the opportunity to grow Manitou Creative and integrate my business into the bustling and vibrant downtown retail scene, I feel it is important to focus on why I started this business in the first place: to help my community and to make art because it is fun. If I can raise funds for these important local non-profit organizations and still make enough income to make ends meet, then I’ve succeeded. I will start small as a temporary pop-up shop operation in the front yard and grow from there. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a permanent structure built and will not need to take all of my art up and down every time I open up. For now, it’s worth all the effort and I am more than excited about this opportunity. I will be focusing not only on the in-person sales of my art prints and originals but also on website store sales. I think there is a big opportunity to run a successful online store with some effective signage and a QR code for passersby to scan. I am in the works of setting up an automated drop shipping solution for all sorts of printed art products. This is an exciting and very busy time for me and my family. Everything should be in place to ramp up my operation and start this donation program in May 2025.”

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Manitou Springs resident Jared Thompson is Manitou Creative’s artist. Thompson’s imaginative and colorful creations include highly detailed acrylic on canvas paintings, mixed media, and photography. Operating as a pop-up style, open-air art shop, Manitou Creative gives a unique and fun experience to passersby. You may see Jared working at the easel on his next painting while running the shop. If you’re lucky, he’ll be playing his saxophone, sometimes inviting local musicians to jam in the front yard. Providing a large variety of artwork prints including postcards, stickers, posters, printed canvases, art paper, metal, and more allows something for just about everybody. Original paintings are also available at Manitou Creative. Thompson has produced incredibly unique and strikingly detailed paintings of Manitou Springs, Pikes Peak, Garden of The Gods, and vibrant fantasy landscapes, characters, and animals.

Manitou Creative is located on the corner of Manitou Avenue and Navajo Avenue in the heart of downtown Manitou Springs.

Visit Manitou Creative at https://manitoucreative.com/

Find Manitou Creative on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/manitoucreative

Find Manitou Creative on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/manitoucreative/

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